Stacking the Deck
by Victoria to Worthing
Summary: Sequel to Please Forgive Me and Borrowing Your Heart! Anamaria realizes the difficulties of her new relationship. Romance, but not really fluff! Please review!


Author's note: The first sequel to "Borrowing Your Heart"! I already put up the prequel ("Please Forgive Me"). I put it up just now, no reviews yet! *worries* I love reviews, please have mercy and give me some! Heehee. 

Hmm, I can't think of anything else that needs to be said. This is pretty self-explanatory (and very romantic! Yay!). So please just read and review!

Anamaria hummed happily, watching the narrow strip of land on the horizon getting closer by the minute. This was her favorite part of most journeys— when you were near enough to the destination to know you'd get there, but still far enough to relax a bit, looking forward to what you'd do when you landed.

The hot sun was making her sleepy, and she leaned her chin on one of the knobs of the wheel in front of her. Her eyes started fluttering closed. 

"Sleeping at the helm, are we?" A pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist.

"No, not quite." She blinked furiously, trying to look alert, then tipped her head back against Jack's shoulder. "We'll be to land in less than an hour."

"Yes, I know, I'm the captain, remember?" 

She chuckled. "Of course. Who can forget?"

"Good answer." He was stroking her hair now.

"You're so nice sometimes," she sighed dreamily. 

"Only sometimes?"

"Not sometimes; more like rarely."

"I'd be offended if I wasn't distracted by your beauty."

Anamaria twisted her head around to shoot Jack a skeptical look. "How many other women have you used _that _one on?"

"That exact phrase? None. A fair semblance of it? Well…"

She clapped her hands over her ears. "Oh, don't tell me! I don't want to know anything about all your women, I can't stand to think about it."

"Well, that arrangement works fine for me, love," Jack gloated, taking her hands off her ears and clasping them in his own long, callused fingers.

"Don't sound so happy, it makes me worry about what you aren't telling me!" She jerked her elbow back and made contact with his side.

"Oof! That was hardly necessary."

"I couldn't help it, sorry." She turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck, and he sighed and started rubbing her back absentmindedly.

"Hmm… you don't ever wear a corset, do you?"

"What? Me? Of course not, are ye mad?"

He laughed. "Just wondering." 

"That's not really a very polite question!"

"As if you cared about manners," he teased, pulling her tight against him. "Not five minutes ago you were practically breaking my ribs, and now you expect decorum."

She couldn't help but laugh at that interesting turn of the phrase, and for the millionth time she realized that annoying as he was, "Captain" Jack Sparrow was rather irresistible.

She was a little nervous, though. This was their first stop at a port since he'd confessed his supposed "love" for her, and while she was reveling in the affection he'd lavished on her since their first kiss, she wondered if he'd keep being so attentive when he was no longer on a ship where she was the only woman and was instead plunged into a town where ladies would most likely practically fall at his feet just as they had before.

She tried to forget about it, to focus on the sweetness of the moment—the beautiful sunny day, the sea air filling her lungs, his chin resting on her hair, his arms around her. It was great—but it only made her more worried, for fear she might lose it all.

~*~*~*~

A few hours later, Jack, Anamaria, Gibbs, and several other crew members were seated at a long table in the biggest restaurant in Diamond Bay. They had all been looking forward to fresh, well-cooked food, and the quantity of edibles on their table was impressive, as was the speed and abandon they consumed it with. 

"Mmm, good bread!" Anamaria commented, stuffing a roll in her mouth.

"Not as good as this snapper!" Gibbs contested, grabbing a fillet and tearing into it.

Even Cotton's parrot seemed cheerful, squawking happily as it gnawed a bit of fruit.

"Eh, watch this!" Anamaria crowed suddenly, snatching a grape away from the bird. She tossed it straight up at least three feet in the air and caught it squarely in her mouth.

The pirates hooted and cheered, and Jack gave his trademark smirk . "That's interesting…"

The festivities were interrupted by a loud shriek. "Jack! Jack Sparrow! How _are _you, darlin'?" The pirates all turned and saw a rather good-looking woman making her way toward their table, and surprisingly, when she reached it, she didn't slap Jack. She threw her arms around his neck instead, and happily cooed, "It's so good to see you, I haven't forgotten our night last time, when we—"

"Helen! Hello, um, yes, I remember, no need bringing up all that!" Jack said frantically, his kohl-lined eyes wide with alarm. "Good to see you, yes, yes," he said jovially, giving her a little pat on the shoulder in return for her affectionate hug. She still showed no signs of letting go, so he gently pried her arms apart, smiling ingratiatingly as he did. Anamaria was glaring at him from his left, and Helen was practically falling all over him on his right, and he was quite literally caught in the middle, trying to avert the wrath of either of the ladies.

"Um, Helen, have you met Anamaria? She's, umm… she's my… my…."

"Your _what?_" Helen and Anamaria spat at the same time, the former frowning suddenly, the latter still shooting daggers at him with her eyes.

"My… girl?" he answered lamely, glancing over at Anamaria to see if that answer satisfied her enough to spare him any physical harm, at least.

"Your girl? You've got a _girl_?" Helen cried, staring accusingly at Anamaria.

"Not when I knew you! Not then. Just… recently!" She frowned still, and he quickly continued. "Things have changed since then, you see. I'm, why, I'm a new man!" He fluttered his hands in the air, trying, one could only suppose, to indicate his rebirth.

Anamaria only glowered silently.

"Oh, I see! You forgot all about me, just like that! I guess I should have expected as much, you heartless beast!" Helen bellowed overdramatically, bursting into tears. She ran off, still sobbing, and the entire table stared first at her, then at Jack, who laughed uncomfortably.

"Well, she's quite the actress, eh? Always was a little overwrought, you see, she—"

"Jack, I don't want to know!" Anamaria interrupted rudely. "I don't want to know about any of the other girls you've made cry." She took another vicious bite out of her bread, and the meal continued in uncomfortable silence.

~*~*~*~

Later that day, Anamaria lay on the bed in her room at the inn they were staying at for the night; she was grateful that, being the only woman on the crew, she got the room to herself. Jack had asked, in his insinuating tone, if she wanted to share, but she declined, and only just kept herself from giving him the slap that Helen had neglected to provide.

She was in a bad mood, and it was made worse by the fact that she didn't have an extremely good reason for her anger. Jack had met Helen before he met her, had met nearly all his girls before he met her, had certainly met them before she was, as he awkwardly put it, his "girl." But this "Helen" had served as a reminder of the way he had treated most women—love 'em and leave 'em, having fun while he could, then moving on. He had hurt people, including her, in the past. Why should she believe he'd changed? Why should she believe he would treat her differently from his other conquests? Just because she was on the crew and therefore accessible now, that didn't mean she'd be right there forever. Would he want her with him forever? Would she _want_ to be with him that long?

_All the cards are stacked against us, _she thought, burying her face in her pillow.

She heard a knock at the door. "Who is it?" she called rather ungraciously.

"It's Jack. Let me in, please?"

She could imagine his pleading, hopeful face just by hearing his tone. She knew him well, at least she could claim that for sure.

"All right," she called back, getting up and unlocking the door.

He pushed it open, peering around cautiously. "Is it safe for me to come in here? No objects being thrown, tears or tantrums, or cursing my very name and soul?"

She offered a wan smile. "No, just thinking."

"About me?"

She nodded.

He smirked cockily. "Good things?"

"I don't know." She turned away from him.

"Oh, come on, I hate seeing you sad, puts a damper on things, love," Jack said persuasively, edging around so he was in front of her again. "Are you mad about Helen?"

"No, not really. I just… Jack, why am I any different?"

He wrinkled his eyebrows. "Different from what?"

"From whatever other girls you've had. Why should I think I won't end up like Helen? Or like anyone else you've left behind?"

"Well, I can't exactly leave you behind, seeing as you're on the crew…"

"So you won't stop loving me because you're _stuck_ with me?" She chuckled bitterly.

"No, no, I just mean…" He was silent for a little while. "My true love is the _Pearl_, you know that. That's how a pirate lives, isn't it? The sea, your ship, they're your whole life. Anything else is just extra." He waved his hand dismissively. "The girls were just extra, just for fun." A sly, crooked smile crossed his face. "Quite a _lot _of fun, sometimes, but nothing I couldn't live without, savvy?"

Anamaria nodded, hoping he had a point to this.

"But we're alike, you see. We couldn't love any mortal as much as we love the sea, as much as I love the _Pearl—_"

"As much as I loved my boat that you _sank_?" Anamaria put in.

"Yes, fine, if you say so, but the point I'm trying to make is that we don't own our own hearts, they were stolen long ago. Stolen by the mystery of the wind and the waves and what lies beyond. We're pirates first and people after, and I love you because you can understand that." His gaze was steady.

"I hate the way you talk, I can never tell if you're being serious," she said in one hurried breath. 

"You dare to question me when I speak about my life's blood, my mother's milk, my livelihood, my Achilles' heel, my—"

"Enough, enough. Fine, I believe you!" She looked up shyly. "I suppose that's a pretty good reason." A smile was slowly blossoming, brushing away her tight, anxious expression. But then she remembered her parting shot. "You forgot to add that you could never love any woman as much as you love _yourself!_"

"That's fair, but the I could say the same for you, couldn't I? I can't imagine you giving up _anything_ you wanted for some man. See, we're perfectly suited. Both selfish scoundrels to the core."

Anamaria couldn't really argue with that.

"Agh, this is strange," Jack spouted, suddenly beginning to pace.

"What?"

"Really _talking_ to a woman!" He shuddered. "I can't believe this. I never thought I'd act like all the other poor saps, spilling their souls out to their fair ladies. You have to understand, I'm not making any promises here!" He gestured wildly, then glanced over at her with a half-veiled grin. "See, I must love you, I can't think of any other reason I'd behave like such a fool."

"Perhaps your brains are addled by the sun," she teased back. "Though I suppose that happened a looong time ago."

"See, here's another excellent quality you have, you're so encouraging. And so dainty, as evidenced by your table manners." He raised one eyebrow skeptically.

"Go on now, don't make fun of me!" she guffawed, swatting at his arm.

"Such a gentle creature, too. A regular shrinking violet, as it were." He sidled up next to her.

"You're crazy."

"Thank you." He pressed his hands together and bowed his head slightly, looking up at her impudently.

"You're gorgeous," she said suddenly, unaware of the words until they were already spoken. He stepped toward her with purpose in his eyes, but just as his lips neared hers she added, "And you walk more like a woman than I do!"

"_What?"_ Jack blurted out, and the moment of near-peace was destroyed by another battle of insults, which ended as the first had seemed likely to—with a kiss.

Their lips were flavored with the salt of the sea, and they knew they'd sail together tomorrow.

A/N: See, romance, but not TOO much fluff! Man, it's hard writing dialogue for Jack! I saw the movie again yesterday, so I had to keep all his mannerisms in mind and try to portray him right. Don't worry, the other sequels won't have this much "relationship talk", it really is out of character for him, as he said! So please review! And tell me if you still want the next sequel!


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